Lost wallets get returned more often than we might think. 

A large-scale 2019 study by University of Michigan School of Information associate professor Alain Cohn using field experiments in more than 300 cities across 40 countries found that people were more likely to return wallets that contained more money, revealing a high level of civic honesty across nations.

The study, cited in The Globe and Mail, speculates that people are naturally invested in a desire to appear honest to others and to reinforce their own self-image as an honest person. 

“For a society to function smoothly, you need people to be able to trust each other, even if there is no potential gain from future interactions,” Cohn says. 

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Read “Lost wallets get returned more often than you might think – and trusting strangers to do it makes us happier” at The Globe and Mail. 

Read more about Alain Cohn’s study on wallets and honesty: Moral concerns override desire to profit from finding a lost wallet.

UMSI associate professor Alain Cohn is an expert on behavioural economics. Learn more about him by visiting his UMSI faculty profile.